Nicolás Otamendi

Vélez

Born in Buenos Aires, Otamendi made his Primera División debut for Velez Sarsfield on 10 May 2008, in a 2–1 home win against Rosario Central for the Clausura tournament. During manager Hugo Tocalli's spell he was only fifth-choice stopper, behind Waldo Ponce, Fernando Tobio, Marco Torsiglieri and Mariano Uglessich. However, his role in the first team changed during Ricardo Gareca's first season as head coach, the 2009 Clausura: he replaced Ponce for the third game after the Chilean was injured while playing for his national team, and eventually won a starting position alongside Sebastián Domínguez, playing 17 of the 19 games in Vélez's winning campaign. Otamendi scored his first professional goal during the 2009 Apertura, in a 3–1 victory over Arsenal de Sarandí. During that season he also made his debut in an international club competition, appearing in the Copa Sudamericana; in recognition of his performances throughout the year he was chosen for the South American Team of the Year, in a traditional continent-wide journalists' poll conducted by the newspaper El País.

Porto

On 23 August 2010, Otamendi was transferred to Portuguese side Porto on a €4 million fee, signing a five-year contract. Vélez also retained 50% of his registration rights, with the player having a pre-set price of another €4 million to be met by Porto prior to September 2011. He netted in his first match, a 2–0 home victory over Olhanense, finishing his first season with 15…

2009–2010: Debut and 2010 World Cup

In April 2009, Otamendi was called up by Argentina national team coach Diego Maradona for a friendly with Panama. At the time of his selection he had only played 11 professional games, and eventually started the match on 20 May, in a 3–1 win. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, Otamendi played as a centre back alongside Martín Demichelis against Ecuador (0–2 away loss), partnered former Vélez teammate Domínguez against Brazil in a 1–3 home defeat and appeared as a right back in a 1–0 win in Uruguay which sealed the country's qualification to South Africa. On 19 May 2010 he was confirmed as part of the 23-men squad for the final stages, featuring in the starting eleven for the final group stage game against Greece; on the press conference after the match, Maradona said that, in his opinion, he was the best player on the field. Otamendi also played the 90 minutes of the round-of-16 game against Mexico, which Argentina won by 3–1. His final appearance in the tournament was the 0–4 quarter-final loss to Germany: this time his performance received criticism by the football press, as did his manager's decision to improvise him on the right-back position; however, the player subsequently stated his desire to always play for his national team, even if not in his natural position.

2011–2021: First Copa América title

Otamendi scored his first goal for Argentina on 2 September 2011, in a 1–0 friendly win over…

Club

As of match played 30 August 2026

International

Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Otamendi goal.

Vélez

Argentine Primera División: 2009 Clausura Porto

Primeira Liga: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 Taça de Portugal: 2010–11 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2011, 2012, 2013 UEFA Europa League: 2010–11 Manchester City

Premier League: 2017–18, 2018–19 FA Cup: 2018–19 Football League/EFL Cup: 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20 FA Community Shield: 2018, 2019 Benfica

Primeira Liga: 2022–23 Taça da Liga: 2024–25 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2023, 2025 Argentina

FIFA World Cup: 2022 Copa América: 2021, 2024 CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions: 2022 Individual

South American Team of the Year: 2009 O Jogo Primeira Liga Team of the Year: 2012 La Liga Team of the Season: 2014–15 Copa América Team of the Tournament: 2015, 2016 PFA Team of the Year: 2017–18 Premier League ESM Team of the Season: 2017–18 IFFHS Team of the Copa América: 2021 IFFHS Men's CONMEBOL Team: 2022, 2023 Primeira Liga Team of the Year: 2022–23, 2024–25 Primeira Liga Defender of the Month: April 2025 Cosme Damião Awards – Footballer of the Year: 2024